Trainspotting in Flagstaff

A Burlington Northern engine pulls long line of freight thru Flagstaff

A logging train (circa 1925) display

FLAGSTAFF, AZ - -  More trains than you can count?  Not quite.  But 80 - 100 freight trains per day do rumble thru Flagstaff making it the busiest  freight line in the world.  Amtrak also adds a couple of passenger routes to that total.  Flagstaff likes trains enough to have an annual Train Day celebration.  We missed it by a week.
     A display near the tracks shows an Arizona Lumber & Timber Company Baldwin steam engine.  "Two Spots" was nicknamed due to canvas water bags rubbing off the #5 in 25 on the engine's cab.
     

Across Utah to Flagstaff

The Magic Bus and the Vermilion Cliffs

The Colorado River viewed from Navajo Bridge

FLAGSTAFF, AZ - - It was time to leave Bryce Canyon NP and head for Zion NP...until we checked the weather.  The daytime temperature of 104-degrees at Zion quickly got us looking at alternatives.  Flagstaff, at 250+ miles, looked good since we've spent time there before and there is a good forest service campground.  Arrive early is a key in getting a (good) campsite.  Forgetting that we would gain an hour crossing into Arizona made us even earlier.
     Unless you like high desert, the drive is rather boring.  One highlight, which we look forward to seeing, are the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument and the Navajo Bridge.  We traveled this route a number of times when we worked at the Grand Canyons' North Rim (2010).
     At NB, the Colorado flows through Marble Canyon on its way into the Grand Canyon.  Rafting traffic sets out from nearby in Glenn Canyon where, if you arrive early, you can see the raft crews loading up supplies for the multi-day trip.
     Why does the water look green??  No clue.

Thursday and Friday's workout

Tower Bridge. 

A 'garden' of whoodoos

Lydia, on the way to more photo opportunities

BRYCE CANYON, UT - - The red rock formations of Bryce are everywhere.  A new photo op presents itself around every corner.  So hiking down into the canyon presents a myriad of opportunities...do you shoot now or wait for a better angle or better light.  Usually, we just shoot the heck out of everything and pick out the best later on the computer.  There really aren't any 'bad' shots...just ones which are better than others.  In any event, you will get a workout while looking for that perfect  picture.  As you can see, Lydia is always a good ways ahead on the trail.  No problem.

Red rocks in Bryce Canyon NP

Want to sleep in a railroad car? You can at Big Rock Candy Mountain

You get a different view of Bryce as you move along the rim.

We were hiking in this general area

PANGUITCH, UT - -  (Pronounced panG-which)  Indian name, settled by the Mormons.  Anyway we're here in Bryce Canyon NP for a few days.  We got lucky and scored a campsite in a prime location.  Usually around this time of year sites are hard to come by since families head out now that the kids are out of school.
    You could consider Bryce different from our previous stops.  Here we hike down before hiking up.  Of course, you can follow the rim trail and leave out the most strenuous sections you could do.
     Today, we did the Navajo trail (down) and Wall Street (up) a two hour grind designed to get your heart rate up and your knee joints realizing this isn't flat land by a long shot.  Tomorrow will probably be just as exciting.  

Road block

Look closely at I-70 for  the black dot...a car about to pass through

RICHFIELD, UT - - The San Rafael Reef is an imposing 75 mile long geological feature of the Colorado Plateau in central Utah.  In the early days of the territory a long detour was the norm.  So daunting is this 'uplift' that it wasn't until 1970 that a two lane road could be constructed through.  Not until 1985 did I-70 make the connection between east and west UT a two lane (each way) high speed reality.  

Moooove out of the way

These youngsters could't figure what the silver 'thing' was in  the road ahead

MOAB, UT - - Those "open range" signs along the back road we were traveling really meant it.  If the interlopers weren't on the road they were near it.  And those "cattle guards" (about a 4-foot wide/road width of steel piping just wide enough to give uneasy footing/hoofing) really work.  We saw at least 4 guards where it was evident that cattle had walked right up to the guard, decided not to test it and left  many visible "comments" on the road.

Erosion

MOAB, UT - - The area surrounding Moab is famous for its two national parks...Arches and Canyonlands...plus Utah SP Dead Horse Point.  Erosion has created spectacular masterpieces in each.  And each is totally different.
     The spectacles of Arches are either huge red stone monsters or delicate arches.  Canyonlands, as the name implies,  is a vast canyon where wind, grit and water have carved out a smaller, and different style, mini Grand Canyon.  Mother Nature expended millions of years in creating each.

A wide expanse of Canyonlands NP as viewed from Dead Horse Point

 Delicate Arch symbolically adorns the Utah license plate

One person's junk is..........

REDSTONE, CO

From Black Canyon to Crested Butte

Cement creek forest service campground

Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP

CRESTED BUTTE, CO - -Our wandering now finds us in Crested Butte, a place we haven't been before.  It's more ski than summer destination, surrounded by rough peaks with and without snow.  We've been exploring the historic downtown, a sort of old west style with plenty of coffee shops.  It seems as if everyone (locals) is always fueling up.
     Our Forest Service campground ($8, no water and now no campfires) is rustic although quite scenic.  How the roaring water about 100' from our campsite got its name "Cement Creek" we've yet to find out.
     Prior to heading to Crested Butte, we spent two nights camping at Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP.  This steep sided canyon got its name because sunlight has a hard time ever warming the lower recesses.  The Gunnison river has cut a meandering route through the rock over past eons.  There were plenty of lookouts, but none could afford a photo opportunity to show the viewer what the canyon really  looks/feels like.

Bridal Veil Falls

Telluride (top left) and Idarado Mine (right center)

Bridal Veil Falls and generating facility

 You can take a shuttle to a number of vantage points

TELLURIDE, CO - - The leader's plan for Saturday was to hike to the top of Bridal Veil Falls.  Of course, Faithful Sherpa signed up.  It was four miles (one-way) to what looks like a speck from our base at the campground.  The Leader felt I might not make it all the way...heck, so did I.  But never underestimate the tenacity of sherpa-power.  However, I admit that by the time (4 hours, 10 minutes) I arrived back at the campsite I was whipped.  The 10,000' altitude will do that to you.
     Some whimpy folks choose to drive or go with one of the tour groups...like in this vintage (early 1970's) Steyr-Puch.  This military type vehicle was used mainly by the Swiss and Austrian armies with a few of the 4x4 sent to the U.S.  The vehicle looks cool, but there was no guarantee of a smooth ride on the very rough dirt "road."

Want to go for a ride?

Coming down (left) or heading up and over (right)

Wan to go round trip?  it'll take 15 mins.

From the top:  Idarango Mine buildings middle far right

TELLURIDE, C0 - - Telluride is unique in that there is a Free gondola (6am to midnight every day) from town to Mountain Village.  You need a lot of petty cash to enjoy Telluride.  On the other side of the San Juan mountain range you find resorts,  condos and houses with soaring prices. As a super ski town you'd expect nothing less (see Aspen, Vail, etc).where very deep pockets set the elite apart from the rest of us mere mortals.
   
      The Mountain Village Telluride Gondola is a 2.5 mile trip (one way) and was opened in 1996.

We're now in Telluride

"Brownie" will get your attention

The historic district is quiet since school summer vacation hasn't started...yet.

There's a small river behind us...great for dog swims, but a bit cold for humans

TELLURIDE, CO - - After 5 days/nights in Ouray, CO, we headed out to Telluride.  It's 50 miles by established roads or 14 via the up and over rough 4-wheel drive route through the San Juan mountains.  My last pic of Ouray is a 'friendly' brown bear waving us goodbye.
     Telluride, at 8,750',  is a former silver mining town.  It was originally called Columbia, but a California town already claimed that.  So, the name was changed  to represent gold telluride minerals found in other parts of CO.  Naturally, after changing the name, none of the minerals were located here.
     Sometimes you get lucky.  We arrived in Telluride before 9am.  Headed straight for the Town Campground where we had stayed before.  With only 35 sites, this is a popular place.  In our favor is their rule that they do not take reservations. So we did the walk-around and found a site we had camped in before...empty.  It has a riverside location and great mountain views.  $14 per night if you're old and grouchy.  Lydia declined to do the sign-in so faithful sherpa did the honors.

The staircase and the snail

The staircase...heading UP to the bridge

The snail...heading DOWN from the bridge

OURAY, CO - - These photos belong with the previous blog post...even if they may seem self explanatory.  

Follow the leader

I shot this from the 'down' side of the hike

OURAY, CO - - The leader, in this case, is Lydia.  And this is the first 2018 installment of what I term "follow the leader."  You may remember other missives from our 2017 travels.
     We saw the bridge in the photo last year, but didn't check it out.  This year we met folks at the campground who were setting out the hike to Box Canyon.  "Not too far" they said.  So this morning "The Leader" decided it was a good day for a stroll in the mountains.  Faithful sherpa followed.
     We got directions from a local when it looked like we were lost.  The trail was 'up' ...moderately strenuous (probably 8'500' and climbing) and then... The Staircase which had thick steel cable on the 'wall' side and a thinner cable on the down, way down side.  I used to take these challenges in stride...Not anymore.  So, like a snail, I crept upwards.
     Once at the top of the staircase we moved through a short tunnel and out onto the bridge.  There was fantastic view both toward the town and below my feet through the lattice work steel.  Going down was not anti-climactic.  No cables, but plenty of snail-slow movement requiring plenty of concentration.
     And, since I'm posting this blog, I must have made it.  Oh, I did gash a thumb on the cable and managed to drop my small camera.  Fortunately, both still work.  

Have an extra $300,000??

OURAY, CO - - The McLaren Supercar is a very limited edition of a rocketship on wheels.  Imagine seeing one parked on a side street in Ouray near an old hotel.  You can have one if you're on McLaren's list of those individuals with very deep pockets.  The McLaren name is most recognized as a long time competitor in Formula One auto racing.

The colors of Ouray

OURAY, CO - - There isn't a level street in town.  You either walk uphill or down.  Good for working out.  We're surrounded by mountains so it's 8am before the sun rises above one set of high level obstructions and the 5pm when the sun is blocked by mountains on the other side if the valley.

Santa Fe to Ouray and in between

The natural band shell...Echo National Monument

Storm clouds always add to the atmosphere

And so do logging trucks on long down grades

OURAY, CO - - This posting comes via Mouse's Chocolate & Coffee Shop wi-fi.  We left Santa Fe (NM) headed to Durango, CO.  On the way we stopped and wandered around Echo National Monument.  The wind, rain and blowing sand created, via erosion, quite a spectacular work of nature.
     Durango marked our first stop in Colorado then it was onwards.  Durango to Ouray is a scenic ride of 90+ miles on the San Juan (mountains) Skyway.  Impending rain,  an 11,200' pass and at least one logging truck added to the fun.  About half way, we stopped in Silverton for a tour of the T-shirt shops.
     We're at a commercial campground in Ouray.  It cost a lot more than our usual Forest Service or BLM sites.  BUT it has showers and campfires are allowed and town is only a short walk.
     Ouray is named after an indian chief of a tribe within the Ute Nation